Legacy
by anonymous moose
Summary: "You ever wonder where your name comes from, my boy? Well, it's a pretty amazing story." Shepard/Vakarian.


"Come on, Dad," he whined, "hurry up!"

"Hold your horses, kiddo," his father said from somewhere behind the large holoprojector he was kneeling behind. "I've almost got it."

The boy sighed. Dad was never good with electronics. That was Mom's domain. But she was away, deployed on some far off world _again_. He tried not to be mad about it, he really did, but he couldn't help it. _Lousy Alliance,_ he groused internally. _Lousy Council, lousy missions, lousy separatists or pirates or whoever she's chasing this time._

Dad did his best when she was away to keep his mind off her absence. Like right now. This whole thing had been his idea. He'd said that he was 'old enough' now to see... whatever he was about to see, and that his father had shown him the same thing, but he wouldn't tell him what it was. Normally the boy found his father's attempts to engage with him hokey and lame, as thirteen year olds are wont to do, but he couldn't help but be intrigued by the mystery. It felt like he was about to learn some big secret. He liked secrets.

"Got it!" Dad leapt to his feet and clapped his hands together. "Lights!" he said, and they dimmed immediately. "Shutters!" he said, and the windows went opaque, killing all light in the room.

"Now what?" the boy asked. "We can't _see."_

His father's little-used omni-tool flared over his arm, briefly illuminating them in a cerulean light. He walked over and sat next to his son on the floor. He looked excited, but he also had that look on his face that the boy associated with 'man-to-man talks.' There'd been a few of those lately, and now he wondered if he had been tricked into another one.

"Alright," Dad said, "you ready?"

"Ready for _what?"_ he asked.

"Because I'm not stopping this for a bathroom break."

"_Dad!"_

His father laughed that sort of wheezing, gasping laugh that usually ended in a snort and always made him want to laugh too. His black beard was crinkled into a big smile.

"Okay, okay. Let me see... how did my dad start this...?" He glanced away, eyes flickering in the blue light of his omni-tool. "You know where your name comes from, right?"

"Some old city back on Earth," I said. "Mom told me once."

He shook his head. "Your _last_ name, Roman."

"Oh." The boy scratched his head. He'd never given it much thought before. He'd gotten picked on sometimes at school about it, but he got picked on for other things way more often. "I guess I don't know."

"Well," his father said with a laugh. "It's a pretty amazing story."

The boy looked skeptical at this. Dad had told him plenty of tall tales when he was little, before bed or during long trips. Sometimes Mom joined in, other times she had simply rolled her eyes and let him ramble on. That had stopped once he got older, but on occasion his father could still... _exaggerate._

"Dad, I'm not a kid anymore," he said, crossing his arms.

"I know. You're smart, which means you don't believe everything your old man tells you anymore." He sounded a bit wistful. "But that's okay. I have proof."

He keyed something on his omni-tool and the projector sprang to life, unfolding its panels like a blooming flower and projecting images which all but filled the room. Images of people - humans, turians, krogan, asari, and even a couple drell and quarian. They floated about in little bubbles, names and dates surrounding them, connected to each other by various lines that stretched and weaved all the way to a center that was unmarked but glowing brightly.

"What's this?" the boy asked, genuinely curious.

"This, Roman my boy, is your family."

And he knew it was true, because then he saw his great grandparents in one of the bubbles, floating over by his right shoulder. They looked different, somehow. It was hard to tell how with them being only a foot tall.

Dad stood up and wandered around the projections. "All those stories I told you as a boy... well, I embellished here and there, but at their core, they were all true. I learned them from my father, your grandfather, and he learned them from his father."

"Big Gramps?" The boy asked.

Dad smiled. "Yeah, Big Gramps."

He grinned. Big Gramps was his favorite relative. Always happy to see him, always quick with a story or a joke, and spoiled him rotten whenever he could. When Roman told his friends about him, they didn't believe him. It wasn't until they met him at a birthday party that they did. Danny had all but hid under the table when he got close.

It was after that particular party that his parents had sat him down and explained to him that not everyone's great grandfather was eight feet tall, six hundred pounds, and had a big giant hump on his back.

As if reading his mind, Dad asked, "You remember when we had that talk about how our family was... different than most?"

Roman nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, it's _very_ different."

Dad walked over and touched a bubble near the door. It expanded and the other bubbles disappeared one by one as the image filled the room and hovered over the center of the projector. New bubbles appeared, some with moving holos in them, some with stills, some with no images at all but words hovering in space.

"You remember your grandpa Harvey?"

He nodded, staring up at the thick jawed man with the big nose and short brown hair. "Yeah."

Dad smiled sadly. "Good. He was there when you were born, you know. Every birthday too, until he died."

Roman hadn't gone to the funeral or anything. The most he remembered about his grandpa's death was how sad Dad and Mom had been for a while. Five-year-old Roman had resolved to hug them more often. It seemed to help.

"Your grandmother, Alicia, died before you were born," Dad said, poking another bubble. An image of a woman in navy blue military fatigues like Mom's appeared in the center. She had a blonde ponytail and big brown eyes. It began to move, a holovid of some party or something. The woman was laughing really hard, so hard she was crying and clutching her gut. "You would have liked her. She was a riot."

Dad gestured and the holovid disappeared back into its bubble and shrank, returning to its previous position. The image of the two - his grandfather and grandmother - standing beside each other once again dominated the center.

"But..." Dad seemed to hesitate a little, coming back to sit down next to Roman. "...you know what family is, Rome?"

The boy gave him a weird look. "Uh, yeah?"

"I mean-" He grimaced and ran a hand over his bearded chin, like he did when he was nervous. "You know it's not just about blood, right?"

"Like adoption?"

Dad blinked. "Well yes. Yes, like adoption."

The boy furrowed his brow. "I know what adoption is, Dad."

"And you know that when two people adopt a child, that child is theirs as much as if he'd been... born to them."

Roman grimaced. The baby conversation. That had been their last 'man-to-man' talk. It had been horribly awkward, especially when Roman, desperate to end the conversation, had confessed that he already knew where babies came from and couldn't properly explain where he had come by this knowledge.

"Right," he said quickly. "I got it, Dad."

He sighed, relieved.

"Am I adopted?"

Dad tensed immediately, eyes flying open and Roman would have thought it was hysterical if he hadn't really wanted to know the answer.

"No," Dad said. "You're not adopted, Rome. You're mine and your mom's."

Roman nodded. He wasn't really sure if it would have bothered him to learn otherwise, but he liked the answer.

"Your grandpa, though," Dad said, nodding at the hologram. "He was adopted by your great grandfather. Different species can't have children together."

"Except asari," the boy said, and couldn't hide his grin when his father's face flushed red. As awkward as the baby conversation had been, hearing his father fumble for the words to try and explain asari reproduction had been the best part. Because Roman had already known about _that_ too.

"Yes, Roman," he drawled, running a hand over his eyes. "Except asari."

The boy was suddenly struck by an idea. "Did Big Gramps adopt a lot of kids?"

"No no," Dad said, standing up again. "Just the one. Your grandfather. The rest were his and his wife's. Your great aunts."

Roman liked his aunts well enough, though they didn't see each other often. Sterra could be a real jerk and Kiri was a total dork, but they were nice enough. Especially when Big Gram was around and glaring at them.

Dad clapped his hands together and grandpa and grandma were encased in their bubble again and shrank, floating back into their place near the door to Roman's room.

"Now your great grandparents," Dad said, poking their bubble. "Them you know better."

Roman grinned as they filled the room, large as life. Now he knew why they looked different - they were wearing armor. Gramps' was dark and red and heavy, and it made his hump look way bigger instead of the red speckled cloth that normally covered it. Gram's was blue and white, lighter but still strong looking, striped across the arms. For some reason, Roman thought she looked way scarier without it.

That wasn't all - Gramps didn't have that big scar right in the middle of his forehead plate. The old man loved that scar. He told Roman a different story about how he got it every time he saw him. Gram's skin color was a bit brighter blue, and her crest was darker and not so pale. Otherwise, she looked exactly the same.

"You remember Gramps' name?"

Rome nodded. "Kant. Like his dad always told him-"

"'Kant, do everything!'" Dad chuckled. "It's only funny the first thousand times, Rome, believe me."

He poked at another bubble, and a holovid expanded and played in the center of the room. Big Gramps had a small human boy riding on his hump, charging back and forth across some backyard, kicking up a lot of dust. Gram was off to the side with her arms crossed, shaking her head and smiling. At first Roman thought it was him when he was little, but he didn't remember the ground being that color, and realized it must be Dad. Or maybe Dad's dad.

Dad clapped his hands again and the vid disappeared back into its bubble, and he poked another one. This vid was different - Gramps was in different armor, fancier, more ornate, with golden chains and medals dangling off here and there. Gram was in a long red dress, sleek and slimming. They were holding hands and staring at each other as a cloaked krogan behind them gestured widely with both arms. Then, Gramps grabbed the much smaller asari, spun around holding her high, laughing. He dipped her down and they kissed full on the lips.

Roman immediately covered his eyes. "Aw, _Dad!"_

Dad laughed. "Sorry, kiddo. Thought you were used to it."

"They're never _that_ mushy with each other," he protested. He peeked through his fingers. "Is it over?"

"It's over."

Roman blew out a sigh. Dad poked another bubble and this one was a still image - Gramps out on a floating platform, hands behind his back and head held high. He was still wearing that ceremonial armor, with way less medals and chains though. He was looking up at a balcony full of people - a human, a turian, a salarian, an asari, a quarian, a geth, and another krogan.

"Is that..."

"Yeah." Dad flicked his wrist and the three dimensional holoimage rotated. Now I could see the big emblem on the wall beneath the balcony. "The Council."

"Gramps was a Spectre?" Roman balked. He had known Gramps was in the military, fought in some old war and that was how he met Gram, but...

"Yep." Dad clapped twice and brought them back to what Roman had now concluded was an abstract family tree. "There's been a lot of those in our family, Rome. Not just your mom and me."

"I didn't know."

Dad smiled. "That's why we're here. This whole thing, this program? Something your Gramps built out. Krogan love their family histories, tracing back the roots of their clans. In this case, the family Shepard."

Roman looked, squinting through the darkness at each set of names around each bubble. Harvey Shepard and Alicia Masterson, dates for birth and death of each. The line went from them to the bubble containing Big Gramps and Big Gram - Shepard Kant and Rela N'var, dates for birth. A line went from that to a bubble that had multiple lines extending out.

"We have a big family, Rome," Dad said, following his eyes. "You haven't met them all. Hell, I haven't either. But they're out there."

Christopher Rex and Alma Shepard had apparently adopted a _lot_ of kids - the lines extending from them included a drell (Koran Shepard), a quarian (Lelan Shepard) and a turian (Victor Shepard). The line from them that led closer to the center went to a bubble containing an asari and a human (Nicholas Stefan and Nelle Shepard) and lines coming off of that led to other asari (probably kids) and other humans (more adoptions). Closer to the center were more asari, and Roman realized that for a while, the original Shepard bloodline was primarily non-human.

In the form that it was, it resembled a family web more than a tree. There were members of nearly every intelligent species within it, and most bore the name Shepard. The ones that didn't were always from outside the family - he didn't see a single Shepard that had changed their name when they married. And they all led to a couple of bubbles near the center.

"Who's at the center?" Roman asked.

His father grinned. "Well now, that's the question, isn't it?"

Roman shot his father a look. He just grinned wider. The boy pouted. "You're gonna draw this out, aren't you?"

"Only a little," he admitted. Figures. Dad always had a flair for the dramatic.

He got up and poked one of the bubbles first from center - a turian and an asari. Sorono Shepard and Melara T'Gasa. They grew and filled the center. He had silvery skin and orange and blue streaked armor, with ornate blue markings on his face. She had typical asari blue skin, with white freckles in a line down from her temples to her neck.

"These are your old ancestors, Roman," Dad said reverently. "Spectres, the both of them. Turian and human."

He clapped and they shrank, and he poked the other bubble. A human man and another asari - Alan Shepard and Mara Velani. He had ruddy skin, short black hair, and a chiseled jaw. She had a strangely deep blue skin color, and white circles around her eyes and along her crest.

"They were both adopted," Dad continued. "Their parents couldn't have children of their own. Species difference, and certain extenuating circumstances. They were what inspired later generations to continue the practice."

"So..." Roman paused, letting his father have his dramatic moment. "Who were their parents?"

Dad shrank back the human and asari. Then, after taking a breath and turning to his son, he touched the glowing center.

It expanded quickly, filling the room with a brilliant blue light and pulsing past Roman in a wave, leaving little floating stars in its wake. Standing in the center, next to each other, were a human woman and a turian man. One in red armor, the other in blue. One with red hair, the other with blue markings on his face.

There were no names and no dates over the dozens of bubbles floating around them. They weren't necessary. Even now, so many generations later, Roman recognized them same as everyone else. Mostly from that field trip to London his class took last year, to Memorial Plaza and that big statue in the center.

"That's..."

"Yeah."

His mouth dropped open. "I thought... I mean... really?"

"Shepard is a fairly common name," Dad said quietly, dropping back down next to his boy. "More so these days. We certainly don't brag about it."

Roman tried to take it all in. "So... the big war we're learning about in school? The one where she - where Commander Shepard saved the day? We're her family?"

"Yeah." Roman felt his father's hand on his shoulder. "We are. You are."

He looked at the turian. "And that's... what's his name? Vakarius?"

"Vakarian. Garrus Vakarian. The Commander's best and closest friend."

Roman blinked. "They didn't say they were married."

"Its not particularly important to your history lessons," Dad said with a smile. "Big deal at the time, though. There's old vids and articles about it on the extranet. Have to look a bit harder these days to find them, that's all."

They sat there quietly for a moment. Roman sat forward, elbows on his knees and stared at the holos. His father wrapped an arm around him and hugged him lightly, staring along with him.

"Her eyes," he said finally. "They're like mine."

A piercing, blazing green on the holo, staring out at nothing.

Dad let his hand rest on Roman's head. "Yeah they are."

Roman smiled, briefly, but it disappeared. "But... I'm not. I mean, you're not. I mean-"

"What did we say about family, Roman?" His father said, gently interrupting. "It's not about blood."

The boy looked up at his father. False stars floated around them in a gloom of his bedroom.

"What is it about?" he asked, genuinely curious.

"Love, and spirit," his father replied. "That's their legacy, Roman, and that's what we all carry on."

They looked back up. The lightly flickering ghosts of two long-dead heroes stared forward.

"Your turian friends will be real impressed, you know," his father said lightly. "You've got Vakarian blood in your veins."

Roman laughed a little. He thought about arguing the semantics of that, but he knew what Dad meant.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, and he looked up at his Dad.

"Does this mean I have to be a spectre too?" Roman asked, a little worried about the answer.

His father laughed quietly at his concern and hugged him tighter. "No, Rome. It doesn't. You be whatever the hell you want to be, you hear?" He pressed a brief kiss to the top of his head. "Long as you give it all you've got. _That's_ what the Shepards are all about."

The boy smiled at his dad, then, one last time, looked up at the woman's eyes.

Before, his last name had been nothing special. A source of irritation, sometimes, having the same name as a famous person and being nothing special himself. Now, though? Now it _meant_ something. He didn't care if he got picked on. They didn't know what he knew. What he might be someday.

Roman Shepard would hold his head high and carry the family spirit with him wherever he went. Wherever that might be.


End file.
